The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Monday on the text of a resolution proposing to send U.N. observers to eastern Aleppo, where thousands of civilians and anti-government militias are reportedly still trapped.
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Though it is a French-drafted resolution purportedly seeking to prevent “mass atrocities” by Syrian forces, Russia’s input was crucial to its production. Russia had warned it would use its veto power, raising concerns about sending U.N. officials who were unprepared to monitor the protection of civilians, Reuters reported. Russia had also presented its own rival draft.
After more than three hours of negotiations before finally reaching “common ground,” according to French Ambassador Francois Delattre, a final draft was agreed upon.
The resolution calls for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to contact Syrian forces in order to discuss allowing U.N. and other international observers into the country and to monitor the evacuation and well-being of civilians. Among other things, it demands that they be allowed to leave voluntarily and “to a final destination of their choice."
After agreeing to allow anti-government forces and their families to also be evacuated from the region, the efforts were halted on Sunday after a group of anti-government fighters burned five buses that were supposed to be used for an evacuation near Idlib in Syria. This not only stalled a deal to allow thousands to depart Aleppo, but left many other sick and injured evacuees crammed into buses for hours, waiting to move.
State media said "armed terrorists" from groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad, had carried out the attack.
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The Beirut-based Mayadeen television said the Nusra Front, which has ties to al-Qaida, was to blame for the attack on the buses. Other anti-government groups also blamed Nusra fighters and condemned the attack, Al-Arabiya reported. The incident cast doubts on the evacuation agreement as a whole.
Aleppo had been divided between government and anti-government areas in the nearly six-year-long war, but a rapid advance by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies began in mid-November following months of intense airstrikes, forcing them out of territory within a matter of weeks.
The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on the resolution at 9 a.m. Monday.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, "I think we have a good text."
The six-year Syrian conflict has uprooted half of Syria's 22 million people and killed more than 400,000.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would report back on implementation of the resolution within five days of adoption, the draft states.